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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bound — certain
  3. kid — child
  4. face — to confront
  5. net — in sport
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bound — obliged
  9. kid — to tease
  10. net — for catching
  11. ground — crushed
  12. bass — the fish
  13. ground — the earth
  14. net — after costs
  15. bound — tied together
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. scale — in music
  18. face — to point toward
  19. ground — a position
  20. face — part of the head
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. bass — low music
  23. scale — size or range
  24. bat — the animal

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com